Grate things on the horizon for cheese company
Following a £6.5m investment, a north Wales cheese company is moving into a new 43,500 sq ft facility.
Gwynedd-based GRH Food Company Ltd believes it will grow from a £16m business to £50m and employ a further 50 new members of staff in the next few years.
Family-owned GRH Food Company has been located at a 19,000 sq ft factory at Y Ffor, near Pwllheli, since 1997 and today employs 70 staff, making blended and packed cheeses which are increasingly exported to Europe, North America and the Middle East as well as across the UK.
The company will move into a facility at Snowdonia Business Park, Minffordd, near Porthmadog, and production will be transferred to Minffordd within the next five months.
“We have invested heavily in innovation, new product development and our people over the last two years and our success has meant we have reached maximum capacity at Y Ffor, with increasing demand from customers at home and abroad,” said Andrew Hockridge, managing director at GRH.
“Securing the £1.7M Welsh Government grant was a game-changer to support our £6.5m investment at Minffordd.”
The state-of-the-art factory at Snowdonia Business Park will enable GRH to double production capacity as well as offering the very highest food industry BRC quality standards. Moreover, GRH will be developing an on-site Cheese Innovation Centre to accelerate the growth in new blended, flavoured and high-nutrition cheeses for UK and international markets.
“Consumers are increasingly demanding new ways of enjoying the convenience, nutrition and taste of flavoured cheeses as snack foods, toasties and sandwiches, in sauces and cheesy breads, as well as rediscovering old favourites such as Welsh rarebit,” said Mr Hockridge.
“At GRH we have a real passion for creating new cheeses and flavours, and the new Cheese Innovation Centre will help create more award-winning cheeses.”
Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs Lesley Griffiths said: “I would like to congratulate GRH Food Company Ltd on their ambition to grow.
“Their contribution towards the Welsh economy is important and it is good to see that our producers are taking innovation and new product development seriously. Investing in its people is a huge benefit for any business and I certainly wish GRH Food Company Ltd every success in its new home”.
This project has received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014-20, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.
The new Minffordd site will be fully operational from April 2018, initially safeguarding the 70 existing staff, with a further 15 staff expected to be employed by the end of 2018.